24" iMac - Flashing Question Mark

I just received my 24" iMac today (bought from online Apple Store) and couldn't wait to get it set up. After connecting everything and powering on, I was thinking "damn this thing is slow at booting up, way slower than my G4 Powerbook". Then after about a minute, I get a white screen with a little folder displayed with a flashing question mark. Ok, I think there's something wrong here. I immediately thought to try sticking in the OSX install CD, which I did and I get the Apple logo on booting up. Then it starts the OSX Installation screens and I think to myself "Hmmm, must have came without an OS on the HD", but no.. when I get to the screen where you select the destination drive, there is nothing there. Obviously something wrong with the HD. I think its possibly a cable not connected, or seated right, but this thing is like impossible to check inside of.

Do any of you have any ideas? I thought I would try asking for help in here before contacting the Apple Support line (which I already did, but they are closed lol)... UK office hours and all that.

Anyway, I'm severely cheesed off with this. I was sooo looking forward to getting it up and running.

I just received my 24" iMac today (bought from online Apple Store) and couldn't wait to get it set up. After connecting everything and powering on, I was thinking "damn this thing is slow at booting up, way slower than my G4 Powerbook". Then after about a minute, I get a white screen with a little folder displayed with a flashing question mark. Ok, I think there's something wrong here. I immediately thought to try sticking in the OSX install CD, which I did and I get the Apple logo on booting up. Then it starts the OSX Installation screens and I think to myself "Hmmm, must have came without an OS on the HD", but no.. when I get to the screen where you select the destination drive, there is nothing there. Obviously something wrong with the HD. I think its possibly a cable not connected, or seated right, but this thing is like impossible to check inside of.

Do any of you have any ideas? I thought I would try asking for help in here before contacting the Apple Support line (which I already did, but they are closed lol)... UK office hours and all that.

Anyway, I'm severely cheesed off with this. I was sooo looking forward to getting it up and running.

Any help would be great... Thanks.

Does

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Just instal the discs that came with the iMac. I had this problem years ago with a Mac MINI and reinstalling the operating system on the supplied discs solved the problem.

You iMac falls under category of "DOA" meaning you are entitled to a straight replacement immediately and not just get your one repaired. If you bought it from a reseller, they should give another one from their stock. ( This happened for me a few years ago ) But act quickly, the DOA period to report a problem isn't long.

Many Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think it is pretty much DOA
I will call Apple Support tomorrow morning and see if I can get it replaced completely. No doubt, that means a 35 minute wait in a phone queue while the agents finish their "tea & scones" or some such nonsense.

Trust my luck to get a crappy DOA (Friday afternoon botch-job). I have 3 Macs (Powerbook G4, Mac Mini and iBook G4) and never had a single problem with any of them. Hmmm... my first Intel... first problem.

Thanks again... I'll stick in a reply after I get some info from the Apple Dudes.

Try using disk utility to see if it can see the drive. I had this problem with my 17in iMac when i first got it. I ended up going into disk utility checking to see if something could be found. I ended up finding the disk and then totaly reformatting it and reinstalling. Have not had a problem with it since then.

man i really like OSX but since the switch to intel the hardware reliability has been less than stellar
i wonder if this is attributed to the intel chipset or the mass numbers of more machines they are producing vs the PPC days

all i know is they need to smooth things out "Quickly" before the word/name "Apple"
leaves a bad taste in most peoples mouths

first time switchers experiencing these type of problems will probably switch back to M$

Ok Guys, Thanks for all your input regarding this issue. I managed to call Apple on Saturday and spent about 2 hours talking to the support dude (I think he was Indian). He got me to run through all the same procedures that I had basically tried on the Friday night, but nothing worked. Oh, and the issue had got worse by Saturday morning. Instead of getting a white screen with a flashing question mark, when I powered the iMac on, I got nothing on the screen at all... just black, dead, no power. Strangely enough, the only thing that happened was that the sleep light in the bottom right of the chin came on and stayed on (very bright).

So, the Apple support guy finally handed me over to another department, who said that they would send out a complete replacement machine and arrange for TNT to collect the defective unit. I'm quite impressed with the process, as the new iMac has already been built and shipped from Shanghai and is on its way to me. Also, TNT came yesterday and collected the botch-job.

So... Fingers crossed... Hopefully this replacement will be free from defects and I get on with actually enjoying it. Meanwhile, I continue to use and love my 15" Powerbook G4

That sounds like a good result. I'm pleased that they sent out the replacement so quickly instead of putting you to the back of the queue. I'm waiting for a 24" to be shipped myself, but I know that I'd want to be treated that well if things go wrong.

That sounds like a good result. I'm pleased that they sent out the replacement so quickly instead of putting you to the back of the queue. I'm waiting for a 24" to be shipped myself, but I know that I'd want to be treated that well if things go wrong.

David

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Thanks David,
I'm sure your iMac will be fine. You are gonna love it. It's bloody HUGE. In fact , it's so big that it doesn't fit under my shelves (which are mounted above my desk). I'm going to have to move not one, but FOUR shelves just to fit her in. She's only about half an inch too tall as well. The screen is gorgeous. I got a little taste of it when I actually managed to get the OSX Installation screens going, so I could see just how much real-estate this puppy has. If you are interested, I took some photo's of the opening ceremony and added them to my blog. Feel free to have a look.

The Apple support process went really smoothly. When I contacted them, I didn't freak out at them or anything. I simply made it clear that I was really dissapointed with the machine, as I have 3 Macs already and have never had any problems at all. So, having this Intel and my first defect issue was extremely dissapointing to me.

Cheers again matey... Hope you don't have very long to wait... It should be well worth it

It's nice to see (and absolutely obvious from your posts) that you're also a Brit. Once I've got mine, we should have enough screen resolution to take over the world. I'm free next Thursday...David

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Yeah, I also have a 23" Apple Cinema Display and I've already bought the mini-DVI to DVI connector so that I can rig up the 23" next to the 24". So... Absolutely... We shall take over the world together. SkyNet goes live at 23:11:04 Thursday 28th Sep 2006. The fate of Humanity shall be decided in 0.4 Microseconds

i just got the dread ? Mark will i lose all my data when/if i need a replacement laptop
if so how is the mac osx better/different that PC/Microsoft i abandoned so as to avoid this issue?

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It depends on what happened. Try putting in your OSX install disk and see if you can just reinstall OSX on top of the old one. If your harddrive crashed, you may have lost data. Sadly, that problem exists with any PC/Mac manufacturer, the only solution is to make backups.

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